The far side

Clients can seem stubborn, ignorant, wilful and slow, yet some build a relationship of strong mutual respect with design practices.

To a designer, clients can seem stubborn, ignorant, wilful and slow. They have different priorities. You want to make great design – they see it as just part of a bigger, more complex business process. But some of them manage to commission good work, steer it past corporate obstacles and keep a relationship of mutual respect with designers. That’s a skill in itself, and worthy of greater study. Chris Maillard talks to five quite different design commissioners about their methods.